


Did you forget, Traf? Today’s Christmas!

by blackeyebruise



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 19:30:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17028633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackeyebruise/pseuds/blackeyebruise
Summary: LawLu Christmas date! Sort of a gift fic.





	Did you forget, Traf? Today’s Christmas!

Law nearly yelled aloud the moment his vision focused, recoiling in his bed while a satisfied-looking Luffy backed out of his face with his usual huge grin. “Luffy, what the hell--” He stopped. “...What the hell are you doing?”

From the bedside, Luffy looked at him with this _I see you’ve noticed my outfit_ kind of expression and broke into a hearty laugh. “Did you forget, Traf? Today’s Christmas!” He threw his hands up cheerfully, practically jumping up and down out of excitement. Sighing, Law pushed himself up, quickly feeling cold as his sheets flopped off of him.

“I can tell that much. But something tells me the reason you’re dressed in Santa’s clothes is because you’re up to no good.” If he was about to sneak down the entire neighborhood’s chimneys one by one, Law swore to God... Still waking up, Law rubbed his eyes groggily, and only then did it hit him that the entire room was different from the night before. Vine-like strings of lightbulbs hopping laps around the walls and through hoops of red-dotted mistletoe, yellow specks of warmth dotting the softly swaying snowflake ornaments, green and red ribbons rhythmically popping and bursting at every turn... “Did you let your friends in to decorate the place while I was asleep?”

“Huh?! How did you know?!”

Law snorted. “This is far too intricate and well-done for you to have single-handedly assembled.” The true miracle was that they hadn’t trashed the place or at the very least woken Law in the process, rambunctiousness of Luffy and his gang considered.

Luffy laughed it off, instead grasping Law’s hands and tugging him out of bed. “There’s more! Come out and see!”

“All right, all right.”

The obligatory Christmas tree stood proudly atop a carmine rug in the living room, and within it rainbow baubles skirted by chocolate-brown pinecones as they bounced up the branches, culminating at the peak where a dazzling golden disco Christmas star twirled round and round, casting a brilliant gleam across the entire room. Warm, fuzzy stockings flanked this display, dancing in harmony with not only the flames from the fireplace below, but also Luffy himself as he pranced around the room pointing everything out to Law. Though the lights were certainly stunning, what shined the brightest in this scene was undoubtedly...

“Isn’t it cool? But anyway, Traf! You gotta get dressed so we can go have fun outside today! I haven’t gotten to go out with you for so long ‘cause your job’s been so busy, c’mon!”

Of course, never any forewarnings with these things; as usual, this was just sprung on him by Luffy. But he knew to expect it by now, so he’d already made sure to leave his Christmas day schedule blank. “Fine with me.”

Somehow Luffy’s face lit up even brighter than it already had been, and he really looked ready to explode out of excitement. “Yahooooooo!”

~

Outside was just as lively as inside. Decorations were strung up all around town; bells and ribbons and pinecones and mistletoes parading in rows and rows as speckles of snow slipped through them like sand through fingers, settling on the road and sidewalk and cushioning the footsteps of passersby. Luffy grabbed his hand and started forward, already grinning like sunshine and gesturing wildly and bouncing in place as he brought Law along through the city of lights.

And he could certainly appreciate the scenery, but he also found himself distracted. It was nowhere near the first time Luffy’s hand was in his, but -- was this a strange way to put it? -- the feel of his grip was so _like_ him. The way his fingers hugged Law’s, the energetic pull of his arm, the way his hand squeezed Law’s when he was especially thrilled; it was as though Law had his palm up against Luffy’s very heart-- “Traf, did you put on too many layers? You’re all red, are you hot?”

“No,” he stammered. Luffy slowed to a stop, tilting his head at Law curiously and trying to meet his veering eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he insisted, hurriedly scouring the vicinity for something he could use. “They’re making gingerbread houses over there,” he tried, pointing. It worked; Luffy whipped around with enough force that Law practically felt wind in his face, and he’d yanked Law over to the bustle in a flash.

“Luffy!” One of the people who looked like they were organizing the event stepped into view. “Oh, and you must be Traf!” Law could already feel his hat and scarf clamping shut on his own face in embarrassment. Luffy was still holding his hand even as he leapt forward to meet her.

“Makino! What are you doing here? I’m happy to see you!” His hand was still glued to Law’s as he gave his acquaintance a half-hug with his remaining hand.

“I sent you a text saying that I was coming to town for Christmas, but you haven’t been checking your phone again! So I decided I would just surprise you when I got here,” she shrugged. “Come make gingerbread art! We have plenty of gingerbread and things to decorate it with -- icing, candy...” She swept her arm across the white-clothed tables stretched out before them, loaded with bowls and bowls of edible gingerbread crafting treats (Law yanked Luffy back before his drool hit any of it). “Help yourself!”

Luffy had immediately begun swiping from the piles, finally letting go of Law’s hand to run down and browse the aisle. He watched Luffy slip away into the crowd, settling his hands comfortably in his pockets; he thought about following him, but was caught off guard by Luffy’s acquaintance addressing him.

“My name is Makino; it’s nice to meet you! I’m not sure if Luffy’s ever mentioned me to you, since he isn’t the type to talk about his childhood much, but I knew him when he was just a little kid, when he was this small...” Law watched her estimate a height with her hand before responding.

“He hasn’t. I’m Trafalgar Law.” He nodded his head to be polite.

“You’re as handsome a young man as you look in Luffy’s Snapchat photos,” she chuckled. “I hope that boy isn’t causing you too much stress, with how he is--” She had to raise her voice a little over the familiar sound of Luffy shouting nearby, “--It can’t be easy being his roommate.”

“It isn’t,” he agreed, as casually as possible. “He’s a handful.”

Makino laughed, and she and Law both gazed through the shifting body of people, past which they could spot a hint of a snow-touched straw hat bouncing about on the other end. “Even with just a glance, I can tell how happy he is with you.”

That caught him completely off guard, and he jerked ungracefully to the side to hide his flushed face. Gotta act cool.

“Well, I need to get back to my duties. You feel free to have fun with the gingerbread decorating too, Traf! Don’t hold back!” And with a wave and a smile, she was gone.

It was never hard to pick out where Luffy was; move towards the loudest area, and bingo. This time, the commotion seemed to be people holding Luffy back from devouring other groups’ gingerbread houses.

“Who let Luffy in here?!” Ah, long-nose. And several of Luffy’s other friends, too.

“Just a bite--” He was wrestling several of his friends at once-- “C’mon! It looks so good!” The gingerbread meal he was trying to get at was impressive, actually; it was several stories tall and laced in intricate, delectable detail, complete with little gingerbread characters curiously wandering the fine mansion here and there, the whole thing labeled by a small gingerbread sign in front: “Estate of the Great Usopp.”

“I’m not done yet!” long-nose cried, desperately wrenching the ravenous Luffy away from his prized work. “If you’re so hungry, why don’t you eat what you have in your hand?!

“I need to show it to Traf first!”

“Yeah? Well, he’s right there!”

“Wha?! Traf?!” His face split into a blinding smile the minute he saw Law, and his friends finally freed him as he shot over to Law. “Traf, look!” Two gingerbread men, attached at the hands, and soggy from being drowned in icing and candy and sprinkles and chocolate. “Look, it’s us!”

“...Ha. Haha...” It felt like he was about to choke from trying not to laugh, and it hurt his face trying not to grin. Luffy’s already huge smile somehow got _even_ bigger seeing Law’s reaction, and something in his eyes gleamed with warmth. Law fumbled in his pockets for his phone.

“Okay! Now I can finally eat it!”

“Wait-- Luffy!” Too late; all his phone camera caught was a horrifying, blurry photo of Luffy stuffing it into his mouth.

“Huh? What?” Crumbs toppled off his chin.

“Nothing,” he sighed, putting his phone away.

“Hey, Luffy!” Both he and Luffy turned at the sound of a new voice; another acquaintance of Luffy’s that he didn’t recognize.

“Sabo!” In the next second, Luffy had already jumped on him and Sabo had no choice but to catch. He was getting those gingerbread crumbs on the guy’s scarf.

“It’s good to see you! You look like you’re doing great as always. And you must be Traf!” he beamed, somehow unsticking Luffy from him and setting him down. “Thanks for taking care of my little brother!-- Whoa, are you okay?” Law had almost blurted aloud, _You have a brother?!_ but got shocked into a coughing fit instead.

“I’m fine.” He cleared his throat. Luffy never talked about his family or home life or childhood, so this shouldn’t have been new to him, but...

“Sabo, there you are!" Another unfamiliar face came jogging over. "Who’s this?”

“Koala! This is Luffy!” Sabo picked Luffy up like a cat and held him out to her.

“Oh, the little brother! Sabo’s told me about you!” Luffy was set down to interrogate Koala about the pudding in her hands while Sabo made his way over to chat with Law instead. Once they’d exchanged pleasantries and had a bit of small talk, the other two had already gotten back, Luffy licking off his distinctively pudding-smeared mouth.

“Hey Sabo, what’s that?” Luffy jabbed his finger at a tiny box sticking out of Sabo’s pocket, at which Sabo clumsily shoved it deeper and out of view.

“Nothing, nothing!” he wheezed, peeking sideways at a confused Koala to check if she’d seen anything.

“Oh, Traf! I heard it’s a contest!" Luffy huffed, pumping his fists. "We have to make a gingybread house too! The winner gets a HUGE turkey!”

Law raised his eyebrow at him, then calmly made his way over to the ingredients table -- _“Room.”_ \-- and with a literal lift of his finger, a multi-story gingerbread house had been constructed on the spot. Glancing backwards, Luffy looked like he was ready to faint from awe. He ran up beside Law to have a go at some of the materials himself, and started slapping together edible props to add to Law’s tower (only after Luffy explained they were supposed to be cannons and statues could he tell what in God’s name he was building. Eustass Kid walked by during the explanation and remarked that his cannons looked like shit and nothing like cannons, and Law nearly dissected him on the spot). In the end, his and Luffy’s entry lost to the long-nose group’s gingerbread mansion, which had become even more extravagant since they last saw it, now developed into an entire landscape. Still, Luffy managed to beg and plead his way into getting a bit of the turkey, so all was well as Luffy dragged everyone farther down the street.

“There’s people making snowmen over there!” Luffy swallowed the final bit of turkey as he made a beeline for the snow-brimmed park in the near distance, diving into the snow and flailing in it like ocean water at a beach. His friends soon followed, a few of them mimicking him and crashing into the snow, others starting on snowmen, and the rest (the less hyperactive ones) settling down on the sides with hot drinks. Law walked over to stand beside Luffy sprawled out on the ground, who giggled up at him and broke into a huge grin at the sight of him. But his attention shifted as he glimpsed something past Law, and suddenly Law was hit with dread. He turned to watch Luffy scramble his way up a white-coated hill nearby and shuffle his hands in the stuff to produce a decently sized snowball, while all his friends continued their activities in blissful innocence. Then Luffy shoved it off the slope.

The thing became taller than Luffy himself in no time, accumulating mass on its way down before charging straight at the rest of the group. Law, who had seen it coming, stepped out of the way beforehand, while the others weren’t so lucky; Luffy was clutching his stomach in laughter as he sauntered over to admire the destruction and the flattened bodies of his friends. But not for long; the swordsman friend popped out of the ground and nailed Luffy straight in the open mouth with a rage-packed snowball, sending him toppling backwards -- and suddenly, the entire group had turned the public park into a full-scale snowball war. Law himself had already begun to scoot away from the chaos when a whack to the side of his face knocked a grunt out of him, and he looked up to see Luffy snickering at him, hands on his hips and taunt in his eyes.

It was after the fight culminated into an explosion of snow that quaked the street and splattered icy white chunks on cars, buildings, and people in the entire surrounding area that the group was asked to leave.

As Luffy’s somehow _still_ energetic group of friends were being escorted away (the cook and the swordsman were seconds away from tearing each other apart over who landed more hits and whose snowballs had been bigger, some of the others were still trying to pick snow up off the ground and continue the contest, the calmer ones were laughing and carefree), it was Nico Robin who moved towards Law and remarked, with an embarrassingly _knowing_ chuckle, “I never expected to see the stoic surgeon Trafalgar Law throw snowballs with such passion. But then, it naturally turns out this way when Luffy is around, doesn’t it?”

“Uh.” Law cleared his throat and said nothing.

Aside, long-nose froze. “Where’d Luffy go?”

Everyone stopped to looked around in all directions, but nothing. “His scent is around here, so he shouldn’t be far off,” the reindeer doctor offered. The all-around collective thought was the same: where’d he wander off to this time?

Law spotted something and moved closer, reaching down to pull an all-too-familiar straw hat out of the ruins of snow; he turned and held it out for Luffy’s friends to see. They all had the same idea, and spread out to dig through the trashed, ice-choked park for the missing rubber man.

As they’d guessed, Law found him somehow completely buried under a layer or two of snow. He seemed fine; stung from the cold, but nothing a bit of slow heat wouldn’t fix. And he was asleep.

“I’ll take him home.”

~

Luffy slowly blinked awake, shifting around under the sheets and wiping drool from his chin. They were beside the fireplace back at home, and Traf was reading beside him, but looked up when he noticed Luffy stirring. “How are you feeling?”

Barely awake, Luffy didn’t answer and instead drawled aloud his first thoughts. “Isso nice waking up to yhr voice, Traf...” He giggled, then yawned and clumsily kicked the blanket off him, too occupied with himself to notice Traf’s beet red face.

“How do you feel?” he asked again.

“Mm? I’m okhay,” he said mid-yawn, stretching. “Am I supposed to be feeling something?”

“You got buried in the snow and passed out.” Traf set his book down and got up to check up on him for a sec, feeling Luffy’s forehead and stuff. Traf nodded. “Seems fine.”

“Oh, really?” And with that he was about to dismiss the thought, before he remembered again what day it was, and _then_ he snapped awake-- “How long have I been out?!”

“Four hours.”

“WHAT?! What time is it now?!”

“Eight thirty.”

Luffy YELLED. “I was gonna spend the whole day with you! It’s already so late, AHH!”

“There’s still time,” Traf calmly suggested.

Luffy pounced to his feet. “You’re right! C’mon then!” He grabbed Traf’s hand and carried him out the door, knowing exactly where he wanted to take him.

~

“Have you ever been in one of these before?!” Luffy could hardly contain his excitement, and his knees quivered and bounced while he grinned at Traf.

“I haven’t.”

“Oh, it’s moving it’s moving!” He was practically ready to leap out of the seatbelt. Slowly but steadily, the dim scene of the snow-capped buildings melted away as they were lifted higher and higher, and the shaded, sunset-lit sky enveloped them with rich oranges and luxurious violets instead; light soaked into the ferris wheel cabin and illuminated the little bubble in which just Luffy and Traf sat. The sleepy sun cast that brilliant glow over Traf’s rapt expression too and, looking at him, Luffy felt like he was overflowing with some kind of feeling that was warmer than the sun and cozier than the fireplace back at home. Even the snow shined in crisp oranges as it drifted past the two of them outside the window, and soon they were high up enough to see the whole town, they could see all the people walking around down below and the vast, boundless skies all around them -- it made Luffy feel so indescribably _free_ , and he hoped the view made Traf feel that way, too.

As they neared the very top of the wheel, Luffy reached over and tangled his fingers with Traf’s. He nodded up at the roof of the bubble cabin; Traf looked up and saw the ring of mistletoe hung up above, and before Traf had much time to think about what he was getting at, Luffy quickly but gently pulled him in for a kiss.

He loved doing that. Traf’s lips were soft. He hoped that somehow, through this, he could show Traf even a little bit of that overflowing warmth Luffy always felt whenever he got to be with him.

Luffy mumbled into Traf’s lips, “I love you a ton.”

He felt Traf’s mouth move as Traf whispered back, “I love you a ton, too.”

Luffy smiled mid-kiss.


End file.
